Some of the Republican Party's most conservative activists will converge on the outskirts of Washington on Thursday for a three-day gathering that will serve as a chance to take the measure of potential contenders in a 2016 presidential contest with no clear front-runner. The annual meeting known as CPAC - the Conservative Political Action Conference - occurs as Republicans are fractured policywise and yet poised to potentially control both houses of Congress if current trends continue through the November election.

NATIONAL HARBOR. Md. -- So what were Republican presidential hopefuls telling conservatives Thursday on opening day of the annual CPAC conference? Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz: Washington sucks. Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan: Democrats suck. Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: Everyone but governors sucks. Yes, I paraphrase, but that was pretty much the takeaway from a fairly tamped down beginning to the American Conservative Union's annual three-day ideology fest.

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD - A famous conservative walks into a ballroom …. If he is sticking to tradition, he opens with a joke. Or a story that makes him look good or brave or important. On Thursday, the American Conservative Union hosted a handful of high-profile Republicans at its annual Conservative Political Action Conference, some of whom are eyeing the 2016 Republican presidential race.They came to the Gaylord National Resort just south of Washington, D.C., to fire up the base, boost their profiles with the tea party party wing of the GOP or, in the case of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ( who was pointedly not invited last year after cozying up to President Obama )

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - Gov. Chris Christie arrived at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday at one of the most difficult moments of his political career: The investigations into his administration's mammoth traffic jam continue, his poll numbers have plunged, and the socially conservative GOP voters who dominate this gathering have always been his biggest hurdle in a potential quest for the presidency. But with surprisingly expansive comments on his opposition to abortion, the New Jersey governor drew a warm reception before a group that did not even invite him last year, a slight ascribed to organizers' criticism of his conservative credentials.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.--The potential choice facing voters in the next Republican presidential race was on full display Thursday at the kickoff of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, where Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan offered conservative activists their vision for the way forward. In a polished speech, Cruz, the headline-grabbing Texas senator, offered his familiar call for conservatives to hold true to their principles at a time when liberty was "under assault. " Republicans who've strayed from that course have failed to win for a reason, he said.

WASHINGTON -- One of the founders of GOProud, a gay Republican organization, has resigned from the board after accusing the group's new leadership of allowing themselves to be used as "stooges" by antigay conservatives. Chris Barron, who helped create GOProud in 2009, condemned the current directors for touting an agreement that only allowed for limited GOProud participation at the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political Action Conference. In 2010 and 2011, GOProud, which bills itself as a conservative alternative to Log Cabin Republicans, served as a CPAC sponsor.

A new report commissioned by the Republican National Committee reads like an anti-GOP critique from the “lame stream media.” It describes the party as too rigidly ideological, too in thrall to greedy corporations, too disconnected from nonwhite and young voters, and in desperate need of new ideas. The authors of the report appear to hail from the Bush wing of the Republican Party. They include Ari Fleischer, George W. Bush's White House spokesman; Sally Bradshaw, a veteran advisor to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; and Republican National Committeeman Henry Barbour, nephew of Haley Barbour, the former Mississippi governor and RNC chairman who worked on the presidential campaign of Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1988.

OXON HILL, Md.--Returning to a public stage for the first time since losing the presidential election, Mitt Romney called on Republicans Friday to put a powerful U.S. military at the top of their agenda. The 2012 Republican nominee had a distrustful relationship with some conservatives during his presidential run, but he was warmly received by hundreds of activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual meeting of activists from that wing of the party. Romney's call echoed his 2012 campaign promise to expand the Pentagon budget.

FORT WASHINGTON, MD -- High-profile speeches by a pair of Republican presidential possibilities suggested that noneconomic issues are likely to emerge as 2014 and 2016 campaign themes as the economy continues to recover. Beyond pocketbook concerns, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky touched on American exceptionalism, civil liberties, guns, marriage and abortion, among other topics, in back-to-back appearances Thursday before several thousand conservative activists.

To understand what is wrong with today's political right, look no further than the American Conservative Union. The ACU made headlines last month when it snubbed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. A source told National Review that Christie hadn't been invited to the ACU's annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins Thursday, because of his "limited future" in the Republican Party. To put that in perspective: The ACU found ample room at CPAC for Sarah Palin and Donald Trump.